Munich
hometown hero sings first "Trovatore"
http://www.wral.com/munich-hometown-hero-sings-first-trovatore-/12612494/
In case you missed Jonas Kaufmann last night.....
http://intermezzo.typepad.com/intermezzo/
Live in Munich
with Jonas Kaufmann today
http://intermezzo.typepad.com/intermezzo/2013/06/il-trovatore-munich.html
MUNICH, Germany
— Parodied by everyone from Gilbert and Sullivan to the Marx Brothers, Verdi's
"Il Trovatore" is often dismissed as an absurd story about ridiculous
characters redeemed by its glorious music.
Jonas Kaufmann doesn't see it that way.
The Munich-born tenor, who made his role debut as Manrico at
the Bavarian State Opera on Thursday night, said he found the troubadour to
have surprising depths.
"I'm not so much attracted to one-dimensional characters
like 'the romantic lover' or 'the hero who rescues the maiden in
distress,'" Kaufmann said in an email response to questions.
"Compared to those typical Italian tenor parts, Manrico is different. He
is a lover, he is a fighter and he is a victim of a difficult mother-son
relationship and of a tragic family story."
All those qualities and more are certainly brought to the
fore in the wild new production by Olivier Py that opened the company's annual
Munich Opera Festival. It's a non-stop barrage of nightmarish images mixing
styles and periods that assault the audience at lightning speed on a
multi-tiered revolving set.
For starters, there's a blind heroine, a burning cross, a
baby plucked from its mother's womb, clergy wearing conical white hats suggesting
the Inquisition, a stage-within-the-stage, spinning mechanical gears and
doubles who enact their own back stories in pantomime.
Most striking is the glowering presence of a character
(naked but for a flesh-colored body stocking) who is only mentioned in the
libretto: the ghost of a gypsy burned at the stake years earlier. It's her
daughter, Azucena, whose obsession with revenge drives the plot.
"I'd say the overall theme of the production is that
none of the four principals could escape their family history," Kaufmann
said. "Everything they say, they do and they feel is a result of those
awful things which happened in the past, therefore they don't have a chance to
live their own lives."
Py's crazy-quilt approach is guaranteed to horrify
traditionalists, but Munich
audiences are used to unconventional productions, so when the French director
bounded out with an impish grin for his curtain call, he was greeted with as
many cheers as boos.
For the singers, there were repeated foot-stomping ovations,
the loudest being reserved for Kaufmann's co-star, the sublime German soprano
Anja Harteros as Leonora.
Kaufmann himself took a while to come into his own in his
first outing as Manrico. In the ensembles of the first two acts, the dark
quality of his voice made it sometimes hard to distinguish his timbre from that
of Russian baritone Alexey Markov, singing the role of the Count di Luna, his
deadly rival.
After intermission, things improved dramatically, starting
with the extended aria in which Manrico looks forward to his wedding to
Leonora, then shifts gears and rushes off to try to rescue Azucena (sung by the
Russian mezzo-soprano Elina Manistina).
His elegant phrasing and ardent tone in "Ah! Si, ben
mio" — complete with delicate trills — were ravishing. And he brought fire
and clarion sound to the rousing cabaletta, "Di quella pira," singing
both verses and interpolating the traditional high notes, though he took them
down a half-tone to B natural.
"Of course the audience is waiting for 'Di quella
pira,'" Kaufmann said. "I recorded a version with two stanzas and two
high Cs and it worked very well. But to do this on stage in my first production
would mean to take a too-high risk, so the team in Munich and I decided to do the transposed
version."
Kaufmann, at 43 possibly the most-in-demand tenor in the
world today, is notable for the wide range of his repertoire: Wagner, French
opera, and increasingly the heavier Verdi and Puccini roles. And he clearly
intends to keep it that way.
"It may be my voice is darker than that of many tenors
in the Italian repertoire," Kaufmann said. "But I don't see that
means I should stick to Wagner. I mean, also when singing Lohengrin, my voice
may seem darker compared to some famous singers of that role. So, should I
stick to Siegmund then? No!"
"I'm glad that I could sing Faust after Siegmund, and
Manrico after Lohengrin and Parsifal," he added. "And I will go on
with that — not only because it would be a bore for me if I would sing always
the same five, six parts, but also for vocal health. I'm convinced that singing
Verdi is very good for singing Wagner and vice versa."
Now that he's tackled Manrico, his next new Verdi role is
Don Alvaro in "La Forza del Destino," which he's singing in Munich this fall. After
that, inevitably, is a pinnacle of the repertory, the title role of
"Otello."
"It's one of the most exciting, most complex, most
interesting and most beautiful parts you can imagine," Kaufmann said.
"And it's one of the most demanding and most dangerous as well, mostly
because of the emotional impact. You can easily hurt yourself vocally if you
lose control. That's the reason why I haven't sung the part yet. Conductors and
directors keep asking me, but we will have to wait another couple of
years."
Meanwhile, although the three remaining
"Trovatores" are sold out, opera fans worldwide have a chance to see
it for themselves. The Bavarian State Opera is offering a free streaming video
of the performance on Friday, July 5, beginning at 7 p.m., local time, on its website:
www.staatsoper.de/tv .
Il trovatore
http://www.bayerische.staatsoper.de/889-ZG9tPWRvbTImaWQ9Mjg3MCZsPWVu-~spielplan~oper~veranstaltungen~vorstellung.html
Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano
Opera in four acts
"If you travel
to India and to Central Africa, you'll hear Trovatore.“ Nine years after
the triumphant first performance, Verdi's opera had achieved the worldwide
popularity that moved the composer to make this comment. The fabric of the
opera could hardly be more gloomy: a gypsy who wishes to avenge the death of
her mother at the stake, a count who wishes to use the execution of this gypsy
to strike at his rival; a horrifying truth that is revealed at the moment of
death. All the ingredients of Verdi's dramatic abundance appear here:
mysterious sound worlds, harsh contrasts, vocal brilliance, opulent tableaux.
The cohesive narrative style gives way to the variation of suggestive musical
images with which Verdi served "the most important part of the drama“:
revenge.
In Italian with German surtitles
New production
supported by
BMW MUNCHEN
Partner der Münchner Opernfestspiele
All Dates
Performances:
Monday, 1 July 2013, 7.00 p.m.
Friday, 5 July 2013, 7.00 p.m.
Monday, 8 July 2013, 7.00 p.m.
Saturday, 9 November 2013, 7.00 p.m.
Tuesday, 12 November 2013, 7.00 p.m.
Saturday, 16 November 2013, 6.00 p.m.
Wednesday, 20 November 2013, 7.00 p.m.
Casts
Conductor Paolo Carignani
Production Olivier Py
Set and Costumes Pierre-André Weitz
Lighting Bertrand Killy
Chorus Sören Eckhoff
Conte di Luna
Alexey Markov 1./5./8. July 2013
Vitaliy Bilyy 9./12./16./20. Nov. 2013
Leonora
Anja Harteros 1./5./8. July 2013
Krassimira Stoyanova 9./12./16./20. Nov. 2013
Azucena
Elena Manistina
Manrico
Jonas Kaufmann
Ferrando
Kwangchul Youn 1./5./8. July 2013
Goran Jurić 9./12./16./20. Nov. 2013
Ines
Golda Schultz 1./5./8. July 2013
Laura Tatulescu 9./12./16./20. Nov. 2013
Ruiz
Francesco Petrozzi 1./5./8. July 2013
Dean Power 9./12./16./20. Nov. 2013
Ein Zigeuner Rafał Pawnuk
Ein Bote Joshua Stewart
The Bavarian
State Orchestra
The Chorus of the Bavarian
State Opera
Gefangen im ewigen Schicksalsrad
http://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/kultur/buehne/558107_Gefangen-im-ewigen-Schicksalsrad.html
Olivier Py inszenierte "Il Trovatore"
Für München sind die alljährlichen Opernfestspiele bis Ende
Juli immer eine Leistungsschau. Quer durchs Repertoire, mit vollem Haus, sind
sie ein selbstbewusstes XL-Ausrufezeichen, bei dem obendrein auch die Kasse
ziemlich laut klingelt. Heuer natürlich mit Blick auf die beiden Großjubilare
Wagner und Verdi. Da für den Deutschen schon ein Nibelungen-Ring geschmiedet
wurde, hatte der Italiener beim Festspielauftakt den Vortritt. Mit einem
"Trovatore" in Luxusbesetzung.
Jonas Kaufmann und Anja Harteros sind seit ihrem Auftritt
als Lohengrin und Elsa schon so etwas wie ein Bühnentraumpaar. Sie liefern
natürlich auch als Manrico und Leonora vokale Spitzenklasse. Für das
schmetternde, immer etwas melancholisch umschattete Leiden und Schmachten ist Kaufmann der
richtige Strahlemann. Selbst wenn die Piani manchmal mühsam klingen, passt das
bei ihm noch ins Gesamtbild. Und wenn Anja Harteros am Ende ihre hochsouveräne
Leonora auch noch mit betörend verlöschenden Piani krönt, die mit natürlicher
Selbstverständlichkeit zu Boden fallen, wie sie selbst nach ihrem
Opferselbstmord für den Geliebten, dann hat sich dieser Abend schon gelohnt.
Ensemble auf Augenhöhe
Dabei schweben sie keineswegs über dem restlichen Personal -
vor allem der fulminante Graf Luna von Alexey Markov und die Azucena, bei der
Elena Manistina mit dunkel leuchtender Eloquenz stets ihre ganze Lebenstragik
mitschwingen lässt, sind auf Augenhöhe und werden, wie der Rest des Ensembles,
von Paolo Carignani und dem Bayerischen Staatsorchester getragen. Ohne, dass er
sie mit Italianità zu übertrumpfen versucht. Selbst wenn man sich das Ganze für
die Folgevorstellungen noch eine Spur überwältigender und faszinierender
vorstellen kann, ist ein musikalisches Prunkstück zu vermelden.
Es passt zur Spielplandramaturgie von Nikolaus Bachler, dass
er Verdis Schauerstück mit einer interessanten Regiehandschrift konfrontiert.
Multitalent Oliver Py hat sich außerhalb von Deutschland längst als
Regiefachmann für die obsessiven und dunklen Seiten der Leidenschaft einen
Namen gemacht. Die längst durchdeklinierte Optik einer technisch angehauchten
Mechanik der Dunkelheit seines Ausstattungspartners Pierre-André Weitz und die
mit viel nackter Haut beim gut gebautem Zusatzpersonal personifizierten
Obsessionen sind hierzulande noch neu.
Traumata und Alpträume
Da der Plot um eine
Hexenverbrennung, ein ins Feuer geworfenes Kind, eine Frau zwischen zwei
Männern als historisches Schauermärchen kaum in eine schlüssige Geschichte zu
übersetzen ist, nimmt Py das Ganze als Subtextvorlage und illustriert Traumata
als Lebensalpträume. Da sind alle irgendwie in der Unerbittlichkeit eines
Schicksalsräderwerkes gefangen. Leonora ist hier blind. Und wenn es Licht gibt,
dann kommt es aus der Erinnerung an den Feuertod der stets durch die Szene
geisternden Mutter Azucenas. Wenn ein verdorrter Wald oder ein Kreuz von
Flammen umlodert wird, macht das gewaltigen Eindruck. Ebenso wie die mit
nackter Heldenbrust und symbolträchtiger Tiermaske ringenden Alter Egos der
Rivalen, die es aus dem Unterbewusstsein zu aktionsreichem Bühnenleben bringen.
Alles in einer rotierenden wuchtigen Rauminstallation, die von Bühne über
Fassaden, einen gekachelten Innenraum bis zur Zelle und einem abgebranntem
Waldblick in verschiedenen Größen alles bereithält, was man für ein
Alptraumambiente braucht. Das Publikum bejubelte die Akteure und ließ auch die
Regie passieren.
Oper Il Trovatore Von Giuseppe Verdi Bayerische Staatsoper
München
Paolo Carignani (Dirigent) Olivier Py (Regie)